Quy Nhon to Nha Trang

Quy Nhon and Nha Trang, two seaside cities on opposite ends of the spectrum. Quy Nhon is a Vietnamese city that sees only a handful of tourists at a time and Nha Trang is tourist central...Russian tourist to be exact. Our trip to Quy Nhon from Hoi An was stupid, scary and a far as the bus driver was concerned, suicidal. We spent four hours in a mini bus traveling too fast, dodging vehicles and potholes, and sitting once again amongst barfing Vietnamese. Never again! The trip into Nha Trang, however, was luxurious (in comparison), with only 14 of us on a big bus, we stretched out and had a great view as we drove along the coastline.

We spent New Years in Quy Nhon, had a great fish dinner (thanks to a wonderful waiter who helped us through the menu and then showed us how we were to eat our steamed fish, wrapping it in rice paper along with green mango, cucumber and some other greens and dipped in a sweet chili sauce, yum yum). It was a quiet night for us, I was asleep by 11:00 p.m. and Ken read until 2:00 (a good book in the Dragon Tattoo trilogy)...we are getting old. We loved Quy Nhon even if it was a little more challenging because a lot less English was spoken. Our room at the Sunflowers hotel had a great view of the long beach that was lined with a sidewalk on one side and a bay full of local fishing boats on the other.

Nha Trang was described to us as being the most beautiful bay in Vietnam. I guess we were expecting too much because we were a little disappointed, in the city, the beach and the atmosphere. Prices were quite a bit higher and it was a little weird to see tourist signs in Russian not Vietnamese.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the weather is a little cool, which is great for walking but not good beach weather.  We visited a few tourist sights and couldn't wait to book our bus tickets to Da Lat, in the mountains.

By the way...yeh, a replacement camera!

Fishing boats and nets in the Quy Nhon bay.

More fishing boats.  I loved the little round boats they use to get back and forth to their big boats.

The view from our hotel, The Sunflowers, in Quy Nhon.

We took a mototaxi from the bus stop in Nha Trang to our hotel, it is a little weird for Ken to be on the back of a bike!

The beach at Nha Trang.  Where is Waldo (Ken) you can see him if you try.

Our hotel in Nha Trang, the Thang Bom Hotel.  Look up...way up!  The restaurant, on the top floor, had a great view of the city below but I would hate to be there in a earthquake.

The Laying Buddha at the Long Son Pagoda.  We also visited Hon Chong Promontory, a few granite rocks jutting out of the ocean, and Po Naga Cham Towers, the oldest temple in Nha Trang built between the 7th and 12th centuries.

This little group was at the beach playing in the sand, toques and all.

I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean, the weather was a little cold for me to go swimming.

A whole experience in streetfood.

These two fishermen were having way too much fun paddling in from their fishing boat, even if it doesn't look like they caught anything. 

 Po Naga Cham Towers



A sneak look at a young girl and her mother inside one of the temples at Po Naga Cham Towers.